Eddie, The Dead Guy and James
by BleedPurple
Summary: Hey Eddie...who's that dead guy in the kitchen?" This is a story I wrote a long time ago about what happened to Eddie just before James found him in that bathroom. I just now had the courage to post it! I hope you enjoy it!
1. Chapter 1

**I wrote this a long time ago, before I learned of all the theories of what Silent Hill 2 was really about. Silent Hill will always be my favorite game, and James and Maria are great characters, but I was always fascinated with Eddie. I hope you enjoy this!**

**Eddie Dombrowski, James Sunderland, Pyramid Head and the dialogue that consist of Eddie and James' first meeting does not belong to me. It is the property of Konami and the makers of the Video game Silent Hill™.**

Eddie Dombrowski knows he can't stop running.

If he does, that strange figure with the big metal pyramid on his head will get him. And he already saw what it could do with that big bloody knife he dragged behind him. Eddie watched him slice one of those zombie monsters in half and decided if he was going to die, it wasn't going to be in a million pieces.

An apartment complex appeared through the fog, and Eddie ran inside. Collapsing against the heavy grey door and gasping for air, he felt for sure he had lost the monster. But the eerie sound of that gigantic knife could still be heard sliding closer and closer to the door. Eddie realized he had to run again. Run, and this time hide.

Flying up the first flight of stairs he sees, Eddie finds himself in a long hallway. He couldn't hear the monster coming, but something in his gut told him he needed to keep running. Frantic, he tries the door in front of him.

Jammed.

Lungs burning, chest heavy, Eddie bolts to the next door.

Locked. So is the next.

In a near panic, Eddie reaches for the last door. Much to his surprise, he stumbles through the door and collapses.

"Hey!"

Eddie whirls around. He had been in Silent Hill for three hours without seeing one single person. He had not expected anyone to be in the room.

"Oh God!!" he yells, crumpling up into a ball. "Please don't slice me!!"

"Chill out, man!" the voice replied with a chuckle. "I'm not one of those…those…whatever the hell they are. Those _things_."

Timidly, Eddie opens his eyes to see a tall, lean young man standing at the other end of the room. He had a large, thick board in his hand, but he looked anything but scared. In fact, he looked as though he was trying to keep from laughing.

"Thank God!" Eddie says, standing. "I thought I was the only one in this town."

"Sorry to disappoint you." The guy says, throwing the stick he was holding onto the floor. "I thought you were one of them bursting in here for a second."

Eddie noticed the board had a few nails in it. "Were you going to hit me with that?" he asked.

"Hell yeah!" The guy replied. "But I noticed instantly you were wearing clothes. Since those zombie freaks are naked I figured out pretty quick you weren't one of them. That and you're a little…uh, heftier than they are."

_Hefty_, Eddie thought. _A smart was of calling me fat. _"I've known you for five seconds and you're already making fun of me."

"I wasn't making fun of you. I was stating the obvious."

"You're calling me fat!" Eddie felt his fist clench. He didn't run away from home just to find other people who would treat him the same way.

"Whoa! Relax man!" The guy said. "Look, I didn't mean to piss you off. Let's start over, okay? I'm Raleigh, and it's cool to meet you!"


	2. Chapter 2

Eddie took a deep breath in an attempt to make his anger melt away. "Eddie." he sighs. "I'm Eddie Dombrowski."

Raleigh smiled. "Cool!" he said. "Well, relax. Those things can't open doors. Welcome to my humble abode."

Eddie looked around. The apartment seemed trashed, and there wasn't much furniture anywhere. "This is your place?" he asked.

"No, not really. I was being chased and this seemed to be the only room available. Nothing has bothered me since I came here, so here is where I'll stay until someone saves me from this place."

"Chased?" The image of the super large knife flashed in Eddie's mind. "By that metal triangle head thing?"

"By the what?!"

"By that big guy with the metal thing on his head. He had a big knife. He was who I was running from."

"I have no idea what you're talking about!" Raleigh answered. "But I sure as hell hope you didn't lead him here."

"I didn't. I hope I didn't. I don't hear him." Eddied shuddered thinking about the sound of the knife scraping on the ground.

Raleigh sat on the floor to relax, smiling wider than ever. "So Eddie," he says. "Do you live in this town?"

"No. I'm from Ashfield."

"Wow! That's a pretty good distance from here."

"It's not far enough." Eddie says sadly.

"Oh, okay." Raleigh grins. "You're running from something."

"Why do you say that?"

"Come on, Eddie! It's easy to tell these things!"

"Well, you're wrong! I'm not running from anything!"

"No, not any thing. You look like you're running from _everything_."

Eddie looks up at Raleigh. Raleigh's bushy eyebrows are raised as if to say, "Am I right?"

"There's a pattern I'm starting to notice ever since I came to this town," Raleigh explains. "I met some older dude the moment I got here. He told me he had acquired a big gambling debt, and he couldn't pay it off in time. He ended up killing some guy who he says was sent to cut off his fingers. He said, if 'those guys' ever get him they'll cut off his arms and legs and leave him to die.

I hung out with him until he found an apartment with a TV in it. The TV wasn't even working, but he insisted on staying to see if the news could tell him what was going on with this town. What a moron. Everyone here is either dead or missing, but the local news guys are giving 24 hour coverage? Jeez! Anyway, something about that room scared me, so I left him there."

"What happened to him?" Eddie asked.

"The hell if I know."

"Well, maybe we should all stick together! Maybe he's right! Maybe the TV will work and the news or whatever will tell us what we should do!"

"No! I'm telling you, dude! There was something not right about that room! I have good instincts about these things. I felt as thought I was standing in my own coffin!"

"But you said yourself those things couldn't open doors!"

"Look, Eddie!" Raleigh snapped. "If you want to go, go. It's upstairs, room 208. I'll admit, it's a much cozier room than this one. It had the TV, an easy chair, some pictures on the wall and a Grandfather clock. But it's not worth it. So if you're going, you're going alone. I'm staying right here."

Eddie sighed. He really wanted to check out that other room, but he didn't want to go back through those halls alone. "Okay," he said, dejected. "I'll stay here."

"Good." Raleigh replied. It was obvious he was trying to hide his relief.

"Have you seen anyone else here?" Eddie asked.

Raleigh smirked. "Yeah! There was this one girl. She was cute! She'd be hotter if she didn't cover up with sweaters and her hair didn't look like she cut it with a piece of glass. I think her name was Angie. I'd probably still be hanging out with her if she didn't freak out on me every time I so much as looked at her! I mean, seriously! I was talking to her and she tripped. I grab her to keep her from falling in her ass…and she screams and takes a swing at me with the knife she was holding! And she was all like, 'Don't touch me! You don't get to touch me!' When she finally ran off, I was like, 'Later bitch!'"

At this point Raleigh was laughing hysterically, though Eddie failed to see the humor in meeting a crazed woman with a knife. "So who do you think she was running from?" Eddie asked.

"Oh, I don't know…her shrink?!" Raleigh bursts into another laughing episode.

"You're really chipper for a guy whose here fighting for his life." Eddie notes.

"You have to have a sense of humor in this place," Raleigh replies, his demeanor changing back into serious. "Otherwise you start thinking about what can happen to you here. You start thinking about your own death, and you start wondering if maybe you're already dead and maybe this is hell."

Eddie cringes. "Yeah," he sighs. "I'm starting to think this is hell."

"So what are you running from, Eddie?"

"Just like you said. From everything."

"Wanna talk about it? It's not like we don't have anything but time on our hands."

"How do I know you won't go running to the cops?"

Raleigh laughs. "_Cops_?"

"Don't laugh at me!!" Eddie growls.

"I'm not laughing at you! It's just…have you _seen_ a cop here since you got here? At least _one_? One that wasn't mysteriously torn to pieces by some unknown creature? I mean, if you _have_, let me know so I'll feel better."

"No."

"Okay then. Then we agree that the Silent Hill Police department is gone along with everyone else. Look…if you tell me why _you're_ here, I'll tell you why _I'm_ here. And what I'm running from is probably a lot worse than yours."

"I doubt that."

"Come on. Now I'm dying to know."

Eddie stares down Raleigh, searching for any signs of sincerity and not a path to humiliation. Mentally and physically exhausted, he sighs.

"Okay." He replies. "Yesterday, I lost my job."

"Where did you work?"

"At an arcade. It was the biggest one in town, and I've been working there since I was 18. There was this guy there. The moment he walked in, I swear he looked at me and decide to make my life hell. Every weekend for at least three friggen years he came in and called me fat, gross, stupid…and my boss never did anything about it. No one ever stuck up for me. The only one who did was my Aunt Tina, and a week ago she had a heart attack and died."

"That sucks."

"Yeah. And I did something stupid and went to work right after the funeral. And there that guy was, just sitting at his favorite game, calling me a fat disgusting piece of shit. He got up and tells me to move my fat ass over to the token machine and get some tokens. And I remember thinking I wanted to kill him. I mean…actually kill him." Just thinking about the guy was making Eddie angry.

"Well?! What happened? Did you?"

"I…I don't know what happened! Next thing I know, the guy is on the floor with blood on his face, and he's not moving! Two of my co-workers are holding me back, and my boss is screaming at me! Everyone in the freaking arcade is looking at me. I'm thrown out of the place and my boss calls me a fat psycho and says he's going to help the guy press charges. I looked at my hands and I saw blood all over them. I don't know…I guess I started wailing on the guy!"

Raleigh twisted his face. "That's it?" he said. "That's what you're running from? Jeez, you probably would've got a few nights in jail and a fine for that."

"I'm not finished!" Eddie exclaimed.

"Sorry."

"I went home and decided I was going to get out of that stupid town for good. So I went upstairs, packed some stuff, stole some money I knew my mom was stashing, and left the house. I took my dad's gun and a bunch of bullets just in case anyone messed with me.

As I was walking to my car, I saw my neighbor's dog had escaped. I hate that stupid dog! He's bit me at least four times! And there he was, growling and running at me. So I pulled the trigger and BANG! The dog yipped and fell down! This reddish-pink stuff started coming out and he started gnawing on it!"

"So, you beat the shit out some punk, shot a dog…"

"And my neighbor. He came out of his house and started screaming that I killed his dog. I pulled the trigger and he went down. He screamed like a girl, and I only shot him in the leg! People started coming out of their houses, so I got in the car and drove away."

Eddie took a deep breath and looked straight into Raleigh's eyes. For the first time in my whole, Eddie noticed Raleigh looked uncomfortably nervous. Eddie found he enjoyed Raleigh's slight twinge of fear. "As I was driving," he continued. "I realized that for the first time in my life, I felt good about myself. For the first time, people were afraid of me and were not thinking about the next fat joke they could play on me. I decided the next place I go, people would know they had to respect me, or else. I kept seeing these signs all over the place while I was driving telling me about Silent Hill, so I…"

"What?"

"I just realized that I can't remember seeing any other signs to any other town. And there's at least three towns between here and Ashfield, right? There's Crown City, Brahms…"

"Pleasant River."

"Yeah, and Pleasant River! But I didn't see any signs for those towns. Or…maybe I didn't notice them. Maybe I only saw the signs for Silent Hill."

"Yeah. It's like something you brought you here, isn't it?"


	3. Chapter 3

The thought of something paranormal bringing Eddie to this cursed town made him shiver. He had hoped that by his own stupid mistake he ended up in Silent Hill, but now it looks like he was lead straight into hell. "What brought you here?" he asked Raleigh.

"A Silent Hill vacation resort pamphlet." Raleigh said, with a disturbed look on his face. "It was the weirdest thing. It was just lying on my bed, and I asked my roommates if they'd left it there. They said they hadn't, so I threw it away because I didn't care to go. But the next week it was in my room again, like someone dug it out of the trash. I thought my roommates were trying to mind-screw me, so I called them jerk-offs and threw it away at work, so they couldn't find it."

Raleigh's face fell, as if he just remembered something that made him sick. "When I was driving home that night," he continued. "Some little girl ran out in front of my car. I tried to stop, but I hit her. I got out of the car, and she looked pretty bad. So I put a blanket around her and put her back onto the sidewalk under a streetlight. Then I drove home."

"Why the hell didn't you take her to the hospital?!" Eddied yelled, disgusted. He had always liked kids.

"I shouldn't have to go to jail just because some brat kid decided to dart across the street when a car is coming!" Raleigh exclaimed.

"You wouldn't have gone to jail! Accidents like that happen everyday!"

"You don't understand!" Raleigh said, as he walked toward the kitchen. "I live in Pleasant River! Everyone over there is extra paranoid ever since Walter Sullivan chopped up those two kids and all those other people. The would've hung me just to make a point!"

"That's not true!" Eddie insisted.

"Oh, what do _you_ know?" Raleigh said, annoyed.

Eddie watched as Raleigh pulls something out of the fridge and starts munching on it. "What are you eating?" He asks.

"Pizza."

"Can I have some?"

"Sure. Come and get it."

Eddie half runs to the kitchen and takes a slice from Raleigh. Instantly he notices the bread is hard, and the cheese is moldy. "We can't eat this!" he exclaims, trying to keep from retching.

"Why not?"

"Because it's rotten! Can't you see that?"

"Well Eddie, I can order out for a fresh one, but I don't think the delivery guy will make it past the acid spitting zombies in the hall!" Raleigh replies in that same condescending tone. "Most likely, all of the food in this place is going to be like this. You might as well eat something to keep your strength."

Eddie hadn't eaten anything since yesterday, and he was pretty hungry. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes and began eating. He could still smell and taste the putrid pizza as it slid down his throat. By the time he finished eating, he felt more sick than full, and Raleigh had gone back to his place in the room and sat down. "Are you finished?" he asked, grinning.

"I guess," Eddied said, as he staggered back to his place on the floor.

"Can I finish my story?"

"I don't care."

"Fine. When I got home, my roommates told me that the cops had just called and they were coming over to ask me some questions about a hit and run earlier that evening. I knew it was only a matter of time before the cops figured out that I had hit the little girl, and since I really didn't feel like going to jail and becoming some big guy's girlfriend…"

_Why did he look at me like that when he said "Big guy's girlfriend"? _Eddie thought.

"…I decided to run. When I went into my room to pack, the very same Silent Hill pamphlet I had thrown away at work was sitting on my bed."

"How do you know it was the same pamphlet?" Eddie asked, still seething about Raleigh's "Big guy" remark. "How do you know your friends didn't just put another one on your bed?"

"Because," Raleigh answered. "Inside there was the cheesy picture of an elderly couple standing in front of the Lakeview Hotel. Before I threw it away, I drew eyelashes and lipstick on the old man and a mustache on the old woman. I also stuck my chewed up piece of gum inside on of the pages. There's no way my roommates could've known I did that. But there it was…the exact same one I threw away, sitting on my bed."

Raleigh sighed. "I know Silent Hill is just the next town over from Pleasant River, but I thought it was a sign. I thought something was telling me to move here, sip margaritas by the lake, hang out with some chicks and work at a hotel or something. Instead, I find I was really being told by some supernatural force to go to hell." Raleigh chuckles. "It figures."

"Well, _you_ deserved it!" Eddie scowled. "The people I hurt were actually jerks. You ran over a little girl!"

"Why are you so pissy all of the sudden?" Raleigh snapped back. "If what you did was so justifiable, _you_ wouldn't be in this place."

"I don't think I'm in hell." Eddie retorted.

"Oh, suddenly you're not in hell? Where are you then?"

Eddie felt his stomach churn and twist, and he doubled over. "What the hell is wrong with you?" Raleigh asked.

"I don't feel so good," Eddie moaned. "I think I'm gonna barf."

"You shouldn't have eaten that pizza."

Eddie looked up at Raleigh in shock. The grin on Raleigh's face was too familiar. It was the same face he got from everyone at home when they just tricked Eddie into doing something.

"But…but you ate the pizza too!" Eddie exclaimed.

Raleigh laughed. "No I didn't! What do you think I am, _crazy_? I just took a bite, and I spit it out while you had your eyes clenched shit like a little girl. I can't believe you fell for it!"

"You son of a bitch!!" Eddie yelled, trying his best not to vomit in the process. "You could kill me! I could get botoxolism or something!"

"It's _botcholism_, you moron." Raleigh quipped, while going to the fridge. "Chill out. I have some food in here that I bought before I got here."

Gagging, Eddie rose to his feet. "The moment I walked in the door, you decided to use me for your own idiot amusement!"

"Jesus _Christ_!" Raleigh laughed, sticking his head in the fridge. "You sound bitchier than that Angie chick."

"You're just like him!" Eddie growled. "You're just like all of them!"

"Oh, please."

Still partially doubled over, Eddie stomps up to Raleigh. "What do you think?" Eddie growled, still fighting to keep whatever was in his stomach from coming up. "That I came all this way to be treated like shit again? I'm _not_ a bad guy! I don't _deserved_ to be laughed at! I deserve respect just like everyone else! I told you I wasn't gonna put up with it anymore! Didn't you hear me? _Huh_? I'm talking to you Raleigh!! Don't be a jerk off by ignoring me! _ANSWER ME!!!"_


	4. Chapter 4

It was literally like Raleigh had vanished before Eddie's eyes.

One minute, Raleigh was looking in the fridge, snickering and making side comments about Eddie. The next minute, Eddie found himself looking at this red substance that was splattered all over the place. Eddie closed his eyes and prayed it wasn't blood.

"Raleigh?" Eddie said, cautiously. No answer. "Raleigh, say something. _Please_…"

Slowly, Eddie opened his eyes. He slowly let his eyes drop to the floor.

Raleigh was lying on his back, eyes wide open, his face ashen grey. To Eddie's horror, he noticed blood gushing from Raleigh's head.

"Oh man!!" Eddie exclaimed. "Oh man, oh man, oh man!! What did I do now? Raleigh, PLEASE get up, man!!"

It was then Eddie noticed both his fist clenched, only in his left hand was a stick with nails in it. The same stick Raleigh had been using as a weapon.

"When the hell did I pick this up?" Eddie exclaimed, quickly throwing the stick to the ground. "What am I gonna do now? I've gotta get outta here!"

Though his stomach was still twisting and churning, Eddie bolted across the apartment to the door. He swung it open only to find himself face to face with one of those monsters.

The monster twitched rapidly and shrieked almost as though it was excited to see him, and before Eddie could react, the monster took one step towards him, leaned its head back and sprayed Eddie with some substance.

Eddie sputtered and quickly slammed the door. The liquid that the monster spit at Eddie smelled like rotted flesh., only it stung. Eddie was sure the zombie spray was melting the skin right off his face.

Reeling from the sight of Raleigh, his sour stomach and now the stinking, burning substance on his face, Eddie stumbled around the apartment desperately looking for the bathroom. He finally found it…one dirty and abandoned, and he quickly stumbled over to the toilet. He had barely made it there when he felt as though everything in his stomach started pouring out of him.

_What's wrong with me? _Eddie wondered. _Why do I keep hurting people? Is this why I'm here? Jesus, I really am just a fat psycho._

Eddie rested his head on the toilet seat, too weak to care about the last butt cheek that sat there before the town had gone to hell. _I'm not getting out of this one, _Eddie thought. "What am I going to tell the cops?"

_Have you seen a cop since you got here? At least one?_

Raleigh's smart ass smirk flashed in Eddie's mind, and he frowned. "You're right! There ain't one cop here, is there?" He yelled. "They're all dead! Just like you!" He sat up away from the toilet to lean against the wall, but the sight of the living room area creeped Eddie out. He felt as though he could see Raleigh's blood pooling in the middle of the room. Eddie slammed the bathroom door. He was already tired of throwing up, but he could feel his stomach turning again.

_You shouldn't have eaten that pizza._

"It was _your_ fault I ate it, you jerk!" Eddie yelled towards the kitchen.

_Oh, please._

"Oh please, yourself!" Eddie exclaimed. "So much for your little prank! I…don't feel…a bit sorry…for…"

Eddie quickly braced himself around the toilet again. The smell of what he was throwing up and the smell of the toilet in general only made him sicker. _God, I just wanna get out of this place! _Eddie thought. _It's not my fault Raleigh's dead. It's his! He's worse than me! I don't deserve this. THEY all do, but not me!_

_Did…did someone turn on a light?_

Eddie was almost afraid to turn around. The light was bright, and the only thing he could see at first as he turned around was the light. But as the light lowered, he could see the silhouette of a man. And when his eyes focused, he could see the man was about his age, only he looked like the jocks that use to pick on Eddie in High School. The man had a concerned face but clearly was approaching Eddie with caution, and by the way the man was holding his flashlight, Eddie was sure he was a cop.

"It wasn't me!" he exclaimed. "I didn't do it!"

The man look confused, but still cautious. "Do _what_?" he asked.

"I didn't do anything! I _swear_!" Eddie said again, sure this cop was trying to bait him into some sort of a confession. "He was like this when I got here!"

The man stared at Eddie for a bit, and then forced a smile. "My uh…my names' James. James Sunderland."

_Maybe he isn't a cop. Maybe he's just like me. Maybe he's just like Raleigh. _"Eddie" he replied.

"Eddie…who's that dead guy in the kitchen?"

_Why does he care if he's not a cop? _"I didn't do it! I swear! I didn't kill anybody!" Eddie's stomach felt as though it was cramping now, and Eddie quickly threw himself over the toilet. _This is great! _He thought. _**I **could be proving to this dude that I'm just as brave as he is, and all my fat ass can do is pray to the Porcelain God._

But James seemed unconcerned with Eddie's intense regurgitation. "You're not friends with that that red pyramid thing, are you?" he asked.

_Red? The thing I saw wasn't red. _"Red Pyramid thing?" Eddie said, once he finished his third vomiting round. "I don't know what you're talking about. _Honest_! I did see some weird looking monsters. They scared the hell out of me, so I ran here!"

James looked behind him, and Eddie could've sworn he saw him shudder. "I guess this place isn't too safe either." He said, gesturing towards Raleigh's corpse. "What happened here, anyway?"

_Why does he keep asking me that?! _"I told you!! I don't know! I'm not even from this town! I just…I just…"

James suddenly looked sad. "You too, huh?" he said, without irony in his voice. "Something just brought you here, right?"

"Yeah," Eddie replied. "You could say that."

The man in 208. That "Angie Chick". Raleigh's Silent Hill Pamphlet. Eddie's signs that lead him straight into hell. They were all called here for a reason. Why was James here?

"Well, whatever it is," James continued. "I think you better get out of here soon."

Eddie shivered. He almost felt as though Raleigh was standing right behind James, staring at him, grinning. He wished James would close the bathroom door. "Yeah, you're right." Eddie replied, as he unclenched himself from around the toilet. "What about you?"

"I'll leave here as soon as I'm done here." James replied. The authoritative sound of James' voice kind of comforted Eddie. "Eddie," James finished. "Be careful."

_Can I please come with you, James? _"James, I…"

_Fat wimp._

"I uh…"

_Why would a guy like him want to hang with a big blubbering psycho like you?_

Eddie sighed. James seemed ready to go, and Eddie still wasn't well enough to get moving. "You be careful too."

James nodded in agreement, and without another word he turned and left that bathroom. Eddie waited until he heard James was gone before he rested against the toilet once more. His stomach was starting to feel better, and he felt a strange pang of courage beginning to grow inside of him.

_James seems like a nice guy, _Eddie thought. _Unlike Raleigh. Unlike Mr. Parkers. Unlike that stupid dog. Unlike all the rest. He didn't look at me like I was stupid once._ "I should've went with him."

_He would've eventually got sick of you and started making fun of you too._

"No he wouldn't have!"

_What's the problem? Even if he did, you know what to do now. You know how to show him who you are._

Eddie grinned. "They're all afraid of me now, aren't they?"

_You can make James afraid of you too. You're a different person now, Eddie. You showed them all that. You showed that jerk Raleigh that as well. And the moment James treats you like crap…_

"I'll show him too."

**End**.


End file.
